I don't think it was a certain year. They just started doing it and each manufacturer followed suit. Also don't forget, there was a lot of old stock to be used up as well, so the age of manufacture and the age of sale is sometimes off by quite a bit.

Thanks all for replys,
No was just wondering, I have seen orange and yellow sheathing around for a while now was thinking it might be a new industry/safety standard etc. By any means all wire I use gets double checked and is what it is supposed to be/ and correct for the application.

also one of the reasons for BLUE PEX for cold water and RED for hot. A "real plumber" would arrive at a house a day early and install all the "terminals" for the fixtures. Then the "kids" or illegals would come in the next day and start running red to the left connection and blue to the right one and toilets.

Then it would need another "smart" plumber to know which markers to use. If you gave the installers all white PEX, they would think they just had to put one system in going from connction to connection in record time. I have known some plumbers who did not check which "color" the copper tubing should be and interconnected the hot and cold lines at a manifold in the wall. Makes an interesting situation to try to locate WHERE it is after the walls are completed and painted.

As ROMEX is a registered trademark of Southwire Company, we ask that you please begin using the Â® after ROMEX on your Chat page and state on your message board that ROMEXÂ® is a registered trademark of Southwire Company.

Please make the following changes:Thread: ROMEXÂ®/cable color changesWe understand that you may be unable to control all usage of the mark ROMEX on your chat page. However, if itâ€™s your preference not to make the adjustments mentioned above, please cease use of the ROMEX mark and encourage your forum participants to make reference to NMB instead of using the federally registered ROMEX trademark when referring to NMB cable in general.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. If this change is not made within ten days we will contact you again to check on your progress.

As ROMEX is a registered trademark of Southwire Company, we ask that you please begin using the Â® after ROMEX on your Chat page and state on your message board that ROMEXÂ® is a registered trademark of Southwire Company.

Please make the following changes:Thread: ROMEXÂ®/cable color changesWe understand that you may be unable to control all usage of the mark ROMEX on your chat page. However, if it’s your preference not to make the adjustments mentioned above, please cease use of the ROMEX mark and encourage your forum participants to make reference to NMB instead of using the federally registered ROMEX trademark when referring to NMB cable in general.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. If this change is not made within ten days we will contact you again to check on your progress.

If you don't defend the use of your trademark, it can go into the public domain, and anyone can use it. They, and many others, spend a huge amount of money developing and perfecting something, and often, being the first, people take the name as a generic. Consider tissue verses K...., or cellophane tape verses S....., or copy verses X..... If you owned those brands, wouldn't you want people to actually refer to YOUR product when people were thinking generic, or made in China knockoff? The impact is real, it is tangible, and legally, it is required, or you can lose it to generic status.

They trademark the name so other companies can't use it, not people who consume their product... if the name is so catchy that consumers use it on a regular basis, they make sales. they should not think that we are trying to steal the ROMEXÂ® name in any way. in fact, I bought ROMEXÂ® last month (a south wire product, lol) I bought a few thousand feet of ROMEXÂ® to rewire my house. They should be GRATEFUL that I, as a consumer, remember their trademark and slogans and ANY advertisements.

Exactly, Jim. When you own a trademark, you need to make a reasonable attempt to defend it. It isn't possible to catch all uses of the name without the R or TM, but the company needs to show that they try to defend the ones that they find. If they lost the trademark, myself or anyone else, could make wire and slap the ROMEX name on it. Southwire obviously does not want that, so they protect the trademark.

They own the trademark, PERIOD. OTHER COMPANIES WHO USE THE TRADEMARK ARE WRONG. Use of the Trademarked name, on a public DIY Forum, should only help sales, not hurt it. If I hear the name ROMEXÂ®, guess where I shop? Big Orange Home Depot, who just so happens to carry ROMEXÂ® branded products.. they benefit from people talking about their product.

They own the trademark, PERIOD. OTHER COMPANIES WHO USE THE TRADEMARK ARE WRONG. Use of the Trademarked name, on a public DIY Forum, should only help sales, not hurt it. If I hear the name ROMEXÂ®, guess where I shop? Big Orange Home Depot, who just so happens to carry ROMEXÂ® branded products.. they benefit from people talking about their product.

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That is so correct.

Putting the Â® does not protect them from other company's using the name.

If they really own that trademark, They have rights to sue if someone does use it.

Reserved and Copyrighted and Trademark are also different, but if you own it , You own it.

I have a feeling that they lost the Copyright and did not pay the bill to keep the trademark.

The only way you can retain your trademark is to take reasonable effort to defend it's proper use...if you don't, then a legal opening is to declare it a generic, non-trademark. It has nothing to do with paying money...once a trademark is yours, it is yours until you relinquish it, or let it fall into public use through neglect or non-use.

in generalized speaking terms such as this forum, you have no right to tell me how I am supposed to speak and refer to your products. if i were to say, "please hand me a kleenex to wipe off the glass on the xerox" i can without infringing on their trademark. this is not a business, not a money making venture. no ground to stand on. period. romex has been a common name for YEARS for common people to talk about nm-b wire. it is not hurting them at all with us talking about them. If I were to start a business and manufacture wire, and call my product roxex-like or something, then there would be an issue.